Despite starting out on the wrong foot, Panathinaikos reacted and got the win in the game against Olimpija in Ljubljana (83-71). Panathinaikos was bad defensively and Olimpija got the lead by 12-0 0(3’) and 39-25 (16’). The Slovenians still led the way at the halftime (43-36). Panathinaikos got better in the second half of the game. Spanoulis in the beginning and then Fotsis and Nicholas led the way, got the score even (54-54, 28’) and moved ahead as Nicholas scored for the 57-54 (29’). Panathinaikos got it’s biggest lead with 15 points (77-62, 36’40’’), before closing the game with a victory by 83-71.
Periods: 25-15, 43-36, 55-62, 71-83
Olimpija L.: Wallace 12, Ilefski 5, Golubovic 6, Crawford 9, Rudez 12, Milic 13, Begic 9, Saralija, Zupan 3, Ozbolt
Panathinaikos: Kecman 6, Spanoulis 10, Perperoglou 11, Batiste 10, Fotsis 11, Nicholas 16, Tsartsaris 7, Diamantidis 2, Pekovic 8, Sakota 1, Verginis 1, Jasikevicius
Obradovic: I don’t want to see my team like that again
Zeljko Obradovic was very strict in what he said after the game: “We had two different faces in the first and the second half. It’s something that we must take care of immediately. In the first half we were really bad, we weren’t focused. I don’t want to see my team playing like that again. Panathinaikos is a great club and it can go on winning without any of us. It’s really a shame the way some of my players played today. If they don’t like basketball it’s better to stop playing. When we get back to Greece I will talk to mr Thanassis Giannakopoulos about that, so that we can end this thing here and now. The game was strong, but we have to change our attitude. Everybody must understand that we have to fight till the end, like we did in the second half. I felt like I am crazy in the first half. Things are not like this. I am a coach that wants to help his team!”
